Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA)-Has Donald Trump's time come, and will Jewish political conservatives embrace him? Trump, the real estate magnate and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, rolled closer to victory on Tuesday with wins in at least three primary states. His strong showing, earning 161 delegates or more depending on the final tally in Missouri, brought his delegate tally to 621-halfway to the 1,237 he needs to secure the nomination. The question for Jewish political... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The controversy over whether laws protecting Israel from boycotts should include West Bank settlements found its way into a presidential signing statement this week, but President Barack Obama's decision to ignore a trade law's requirement to oppose boycotts of Israeli settlements likely won't settle the argument. The president said Wednesday he had signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 and embraced its provisions protecting Israel from the Boycott,... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Nearly half the states in the country are considering legislation aimed at countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement. But critics say some bills are cause for concern, either because they seek to legitimate Israeli settlements or go so far in punishing boycott supporters they infringe on constitutionally protected speech. Two states, Illinois and South Carolina, passed laws last year mandating state divestment from companies that boycott Israel, according to a list maintained by Americans for Peace N... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-With the sudden passing last weekend of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court is now split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, throwing into doubt how the court will rule on a raft of cases-including several watched by Jewish organizations. Scalia, who was 79, is being mourned by Orthodox Jewish groups, which embraced his robust originalist doctrine, as well as Jewish church-state separation advocates, who railed at some of his decisions but admired his sharp wit and ded... Full story
(JTA)—The Iowa caucuses are over—and the first real test of the presidential candidates’ viability gave us more questions than answers. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the Republican caucus on Monday night, relegating Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire, to second place. Both Trump and Cruz ran insurgent anti-establishment campaigns. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made a strong showing for third place, well ahead of the other “establishment” candidates. On the Democratic side, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., effective... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a year ago has led to an accelerating war of words over Israeli settlements, with Israel accusing its growing chorus of foreign critics of prejudging the final terms of a peace deal at best-and anti-Semitism at worst. The battle heated up this week with the release of a report by Human Rights Watch arguing that doing business with West Bank settlements reinforces Israel's presence there and contributes to human rights abuses. The report comes a day after the European Union,... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Less than a month after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled a readiness to mend ties with Israel after years of antipathy, a delegation of American Jewish leaders has embarked on a trip to embrace Turkey's longtime rival Greece. Members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations are in the midst of a weeklong trip that will take them to Israel, Greece and Cyprus, the disputed Mediterranean island that has been a source of Greek-Turkish... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-At first blush, it appears like a bombshell: The United States listened in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's phone calls. But on closer examination, the revelations reported Dec. 29 by The Wall Street Journal might not be so far reaching. Spying on allies is both routine and legal in the United States, though perhaps not very politic. Here's what the controversy is all about and what may happen next. What exactly did the Obama administration do? According to the... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The issue of torture in Israel has received unusual attention in recent weeks because of the identity of the alleged victims. Human rights groups say nothing is new in the allegations that Jewish youths, arrested in connection with an arson attack over the summer that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West bank village of Duma, were tortured by Israel's Shin Bet internal security service. For years, Palestinians have charged Israeli authorities with doing much... Full story
(JTA)-Miriam Adelson and her husband, Sheldon, reportedly are at odds over which Republican presidential candidate deserves backing. But this isn't a typical marital spat-it's about which candidate most deserves to be showered with their money. Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-born physician, favors Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, while casino magnate Sheldon Adelson likes Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., according to a report on Yahoo! How much exactly is at stake in this domestic dispute? Tens of millions of... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at an annual U.S.-Israel confab, said Israel’s government must consider the consequences of evolving toward a single state incorporating the Palestinian areas. “How does Israel possibly maintain its character as a Jewish democratic state?” Kerry said Saturday at the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. Would Palestinians “be relegated to a permanent underclass? Would they be segregated?” he asked. Kerry’s forceful questioning of Israeli policy as well Israeli Defense Minister Mosh... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The series of terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 in Paris pose a couple of major challenges for the United States, Jewish officials and security experts said. The challenges: security threats from the the 200 or so Islamic State fighters who have returned to the United States, and moral questions surrounding America's absorption of Syrian war refugees. The key takeaway from Friday's attacks, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, is that the plotters managed to... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Jonathan Pollard, the American spy for Israel sentenced to life in prison in 1987, was released on parole on Saturday, 30 years after his arrest. The former U.S. Navy analyst's exit from a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina (where he reportedly befriended Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff), follows three decades of intrigue that have included charges of anti-Semitism against top U.S. officials, allegations that Pollard offered his services to other countries and his becoming a... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-It took agreeing to set aside differences on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process for President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get down to business on other issues afflicting the region, including the threat of Islamist extremism and the rise of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Appearing pleased and relaxed-if hoarse-after meeting with Obama for more than two hours on Monday, Netanyahu told reporters that the two had a pragmatic discussion... Full story
MANCHESTER CENTER, Vt. (JTA)-Bernie Sanders reads from the Passover Haggadah in Hebrew and jokes with his seder hosts about finding hametz, traces of leavening, after they have thoroughly cleaned the house in preparation for the holiday. The presidential candidate, a socialist competing for the Democratic nomination, also follows Israeli politics close enough to understand the influence of the haredi Orthodox parties in government. And like many Jews of his generation, Sanders, 74, chafes at... Full story
(JTA)-I interviewed Bernie Sanders a couple years ago when word first circulated that the Vermont senator might seek the presidency. Though he knew about JTA going in-and must have known questions about his Jewish background were coming-he didn't want to get into it. I wrote at the time: "But Sanders is hesitant to draw a connection between his Jewish background and his priorities as a senator. With a series of observations about the Jewish history of rootlessness and oppression, Sanders begins... Full story
(JTA)-Dennis Ross' book about the United States-Israel relationship is about to come out, and it includes a bombshell revelation about tensions between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ross, in a passage excerpted from the book Oct. 8 in Politico, says that Susan Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, was so furious with Netanyahu's angry reaction to news of an acceleration in Iran nuclear talks in November 2013 that she told Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defam... Full story
(JTA)-All anyone attending the United Nations General Assembly opening seemed to want to talk about was the threat posed to the world by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That was much to the consternation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued in his speech before that body on Thursday that Iran, beyond the benefits accrued to it because of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal, was benefiting from the intensified focus on ISIS. "When your enemies fight each... Full story
John Boehner, the Republican from Ohio who is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is quitting politics. According to reports, Boehner is sick of navigating two irreconcilable forces: the Obama White House and conservatives in his caucus. Now that he's going, maybe Boehner will feel free to elaborate on his role in the secret that launched the ongoing U.S.-Israel crisis-and perhaps permanently changed the relationship between the two countries. The question is: Was it a reluctant,... Full story
ANAHEIM, Calif. (JTA)-Arab Americans advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees have found some unlikely allies in their effort to resettle families from the war-torn nation: influential Jewish groups. Over the last few days, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched a petition drive calling on President Barack Obama to swiftly open America's gates to an additional 100,000 Syrians, and the president of the Union for Reform Judaism wrote to the president and congressional leaders calling for... Full story
(JTA)-Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been called out for exaggerating his role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s. Bush takes credit on his campaign website for Operation Joshua, a U.S.-led transfer of Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel in 1985. The website says: "In the 1980's thousands of members of the Jewish community had fled their homeland due to famine for a refugee camp in Sudan. Jeb, hearing of... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The moment the Iran nuclear deal becomes law, as seems increasingly likely given growing congressional support for the agreement, the focus of the U.S.-Israel conversation will shift to the question of what’s next. What more will Washington do to mitigate the Iranian threat and reassure Israel and other regional allies? For starters, President Barack Obama seems ready to offer an array of security enhancements. Among them are accelerating and increasing defense assistance to Israel over the next decade; increasing the U.S... Full story
(JTA)—Across the United States, Jewish community groups have appeared unsure about exactly how to respond to the Iran nuclear deal. Consider Massachusetts. Three groups in the state last month attempted to coordinate a single statement on the Iran nuclear deal now under consideration by Congress. The underlying sentiment: Working with Congress, the Obama administration should find a way to “address serious questions about the vulnerabilities” of the deal. As planned, almost identical statements were released by the Jewish Community Relations Co... Full story
(JTA)—There are 28 Jewish members of Congress: 26 Democrats, one independent who caucuses with the Democrats and one Republican. Nine of them are senators and 19 are representatives. Nine back the Iran deal, seven oppose it and 12 are undecided. The positions of Jewish lawmakers are being watched as Congress decides whether to reject the July 14 agreement between Iran and world powers. The vote, to be held by the end of September, is expected go against the deal. The real question is: Will opponents manage two-thirds majorities in the House o...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Bernie Sanders' best friend is a Zionist who teaches Jewish philosophy, he had a formative experience on a kibbutz and "Saturday Night Live" dubbed him the "old Jew." Still, Sanders can't get away from the inevitable "But where is he on Israel?" question, especially now that the Democratic presidential contender, an Independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, has pulled ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire, the first primary state. "Do you view your... Full story
